Quote:
Originally Posted by Wannabee  Heidi,
Thanks for your comment. Some see premil (even more so pretrib) as pessimistic. Actually, it's quite optimistic from their perspective. Man's depravity is revealed in history, even through the most splendid age ever, the Millennial reign. God will judge and be glorified. It's all about God's glory.
This is where we all often lose focus. We can tend to think it's about us; it's about the redemption of man. But it's about God. It's about the exaltation of Jesus Christ. When our focus is on the glory of our Savior then we can all rest in, have joy in and look forward to the return of Christ. With this knowledge, as long as we agree that He is returning, we look forward to the same event. We just have differing understandings of how that will come about. Heh, I even think He'll come a real horse (of some sort). But regardless of what I think, I KNOW He will come. Whether we're raptured before a tribulationary period or in the midst of the millennium right now, our hope necessarily rests in the verity of Christ's promise to return. What blood bought believer could not take joy in that wondrous truth? |
Sometimes in our haste to defend confessionalism strongly against all hermeneutical competitors, we lose track of the part dispensationalism has played in many of our spiritual journeys. I was heartened to hear both Palmer Robertson and Kim Riddlebarger speak movingly (on MP3s) of their own dispi days and the enduring respect they have for their dispensational colleagues and brethren despite the seismic changes in their own theological architecture since then.
1. Many of us were converted/renewed in faith through the ministry of dispensational teachers. The Lord used them to bring us to himself and to nurture us in the scriptures.
2. When most Presbyterians were going the way of the mainline, dispensationalists were among the first and strongest defenders of the inerrancy of the Word of God. They did more than just keep the fires burning until the recovery of the DoG in evangelical circles through the ministries of people like Sproul, Kennedy, Piper, Packer (early), and Mohler.
3. At the heart of the system, dispensationalism is profoundly doxological. Its focal point and apex is the glory of God, manifested in all creation.
4. The dispensational belief in a literal millennium, while evidently more difficult to sustain exegetically, put the eschatological focus on a real and genuine eschatological destination in resurrected bodies of the saints instead of the popular Protestant notions of ghosts (or worse, angels!) floating on cllouds and strumming ethereal harps for eternity. Dispensationalists have kept alive the idea of a renewed "heavens and earth."
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Addendum: this is so speculative and flaky, I want to separate it from the other points.
Since it is easier to move from dispensationalism to covenant theology than vice versa, have you considered that one of the side "benefits" (trying to make lemonade out of lemons) of dispensationalism is that since it has such a large market share, it provides an entry point for people who will later "out grow" it and its limitations and move on to full confessionalism? For much of my ministry, I carried the internal inconsistency of historic premilennialism (my college and seminary taught hermeneutic) clashing in my mind with some remainders of dispensational differentiations between Israel and the church.
I have noted with interest that many in MacArthur's circle have been moving to an amil eschatology in recent years. Riddlebarger posits this as one of the reasons for MacArthur's strong message at last year's Shepherd's Conference that all Calvinists ought to be premillennialists. Riddlebarger suspects that MacArthur is concerned that his move to the DoG may encourage others to keep on moving all the way over to covenant theology in full, including eschatologically. Regardless of the reasons for the shift, it has been taking place and supports my contention that consideration of the DoG will often provide the
entre for people to come into a fully Reformed position in all areas.